Negative and Positive
by 873.25
Summary: Seq. to "Externalities" After Conan's aggressive attempt at a friendship with Kaito succeeds, KID announces a hiatus. However, mistaken for Shinichi AGAIN, this time Vodka accidentally "murders" him. Barely escaping with his life, he gets rescued by Conan. Now that Kaito Kuroba should be dead, Conan and Ai come up with an… idea on how to keep him hidden in plain sight. Crack fic.
1. The negative of looking like Shinichi

Negative and Positive

Seq. to "Externalities" After Conan's aggressive attempt at a friendship with Kaito succeeds, KID announces a hiatus. However, mistaken for Shinichi AGAIN, this time Vodka accidentally "murders" him. Barely escaping with his life, he gets rescued by Conan. Now that Kaito Kuroba should be dead, Conan and Ai come up with an… idea on how to keep him hidden in plain sight. Crack fic.

* * *

Ch. 1 The negative externality of looking like Shinichi Kudo

Kaito really appreciated the new friendship he had formed with his favorite critic, he really did, but he would be remiss to not admit that it had come with its own set of inconveniences. He knew the shrunken detective did not exactly approve of Kaitou KID's way of handling things, and was determined to get the thief to find a different way of sorting out his problems.

Additionally, in the past the pipsqueak had only been an occasional audience member in his heists, only showing up when the target's owner called up the Mouris. However, now that the detective was personal friends with the performer, Kaito wasn't sure how much more frequent the attendance would become. Sure, Tantei-kun was good at unearthing criminals and clues that don't want to be seen, and may be able to gather more information on the organization that killed his father, but Tantei-kun wasn't good at keeping himself safe.

Kaito wasn't about to risk his new friend sticking his head into Kaitou KID's dangerous side of life. So, Kaito decided he would change tactics for a while to investigate quietly to avoid Tantei-kun's curiosity. It wasn't as if his ability to disguise himself and infiltrate places would disappear due to KID's performances going on hiatus after all.

Some people though, had strong feelings regarding KID's decision to lay low for a while. Notably-

"ARGHH! That _stupid_ thief!" Aoko screamed, throwing up her hands in frustration as she noticed the news article Kaito was reading. "Why is he going on hiatus? Is he getting scared of the police now? Is he rethinking his ways? Is he finally thinking that maybe it's a _bad thing_ to be a criminal?!"

"Aoko." Kaito sighed, looking over at his friend. "Shouldn't you be glad KID is going to stop his heists for a while? Your old man can catch a break too."

"My dad's work does not consist 100% of _KID_." Aoko responded, slamming her hands down on Kaito's desk. "And less heists mean less chances to catch him! What if he decides to become _smart_ and starts stealing things the normal way? It will become so much harder to protect things from being stolen from him…" She sighed, as she finally slumped down on her chair. "Aren't you disappointed? You won't be able to see your stupid idol's shows anymore either."

"Not really." Kaito responded, scrolling through the news article again, reading through the comments of disappointed and speculating fans. "It's not like he's going to be gone _forever_. And besides" he looked up to face Aoko. "Maybe KID needs a break from your old man too. Who knows?"

"Who _cares_ about what that stupid KID needs?" Aoko huffed, turning around and crossing her arms.

Kaito sighed, if only she knew. _Wait… scratch that. She never needs to know._

"Kuroba-kun." Kaito jumped, snapped out of his momentary reverie as he heard the one voice among his classmates he was never happy to hear address him. "Are you going on a long vacation?" Akako asked curiously, while she looked at him coolly. "Where are you going?"

"Uh, no plans to go anywhere at the moment." Kaito responded, leaning back instinctively. "Why?"

"I just… wondered." She replied, raising an eyebrow elegantly, "I just felt your presence getting ready for a long departure, is all."

"What?" Kaito stated, confused as ever by the witch's mumbo jumbo. No wonder magicians and real sorcerers never got along. These people, although they were the real deal, lived in different plane of reality after all. He frowned as he saw the classmate he was unhappy being addressed by _most_ of the time wander over to his desk as well. _Geez, don't I ever get a break?_

"Are you going somewhere, Kuroba-kun?" Hakuba addressed him with the same question as soon as he got within earshot.

"No." Kaito said, narrowing his eyes and crossing his arms. Now Aoko was looking at them curiously, having heard two classmates ask her friend the same question. "Unless you two know something about my plans of going somewhere that I don't."

"Well in that case, I'd like to ask you a completely different question." Hakuba responded, not fazed at all by the unfriendly response of his classmate. "Are you related to Shinichi Kudo at all?"

Kaito sputtered as Aoko gasped, and Akako gave the detective a blank look. " _What_?"

"Well, I heard you got mistaken for him before, and I looked up a picture of him." Hakuba continued on, ignoring the surprised reactions of his classmates as he referenced the recent attack on Kaito. He pulled out an old news article clipping. "I have never had the pleasure of meeting him personally, but _look_."

"Oh my god!" Aoko exclaimed in awe, and then laughed as she looked between her friend and the picture of the famous detective. "You look so much like him! And yet, you turned out so _dumb_!"

Kaito pouted as he frowned and glared at the girl. _I have outsmarted this Kudo SO. MANY. TIMES._ "No I don't! And it's not fair to compare me to a genius freak like him!"

"So you're not related?" Hakuba asked again, putting away the article. "I've looked into his family tree, as I have yours, and found no connection whatsoever. However, I wanted to double check with a primary source." He continued with a shrug. "I wanted to check with Kudo-san himself, but he is apparently impossible to reach nowadays so I had to come to you."

"No. We're not." _And I can reach that other 'primary resource'_ Kaito inwardly added on smugly, before sighing. "If we are, I don't know."

"Ah" Akako started, looking surprised as if she had noticed something. "He's the one."

"What?" Kaito said to Akako again, and then regretted it. Why did he keep responding to her mystical phrases again?

"He's the one that was at the clock tower." Akako elaborated as Kaito blinked. "When the bell tolled the 20 thousandth time, he was the one that appeared."

"Him?!" the magician sputtered, before composing himself. "I mean, you mean the clock tower heist where KID left a weird message on the clock right?"

"Yes."

" _Oh_ , you two are talking about that clock tower heist where KID said something stupid like 'he'll steal the clock', and _failed._ " Aoko exclaimed, finally realizing what the other two were talking about. "I remember dad saying something about a 'stupid detective boy and Megure getting in the way' or something." She tapped her finger on her chin at the memory. "So he was talking about Shinichi Kudo."

Flashing Kaito an amused look, Hakuba smiled before he excused himself from the small gathering. "Well, seems like you and the Heisei Sherlock Holmes are _nothing_ alike, save for looks."

Kaito sighed again as all of his classmates meandered over to their seats to get ready for class. _So it was you._ He thought with a tinge of amusement and a little bit of nostalgia. _We HAD interacted before, in a way._ He put his chin on his hands, looking at the back of Aoko's head absentmindedly. _What if we had been classmates? What if we were still the same age? Would we have been best friends? Enemies? Just… classmates? Or like brothers?_

Little did Kaito know he would beat himself over his head later for those absentminded thoughts. He didn't think fate, with her bad sense of humor, had been listening.

000

Kaito stared at the strange man that was staring straight back at him. After school, the teen had decided to practice some magic tricks by the river. Not many people hung out there after all, and the place was quiet and spacey enough. However, there was someone bothering him, and for some odd reason, Kaito's existence seemed to be bothering that someone as well.

"Why are you alive?" A large built man in a black coat, sunglasses, and a black hat addressed Kaito in surprise and with a bit of… fear?

"What?" Kaito responded, surprised and a little scared. He felt like he had been saying this phrase way too many times that day. However, it was no time to be thinking something like that; this man was giving him a terrible feeling. He was kind of dressed like the folks that… _wait_ … _NO._ "I'm not-" Kaito didn't have a chance to respond as the strange man pulled out a gun with a silencer and shot at him. Barely dodging it, he felt the bullet nick him. Kaito then pretended to go into shock and let himself fall into the river. _Goddamit!_

Vodka hurried over to the spot where the teenager had fallen into the river. The kid was wounded, and probably wouldn't survive due to the shock of having been attacked. However, he couldn't fathom why the detective was still alive in the first place. _We killed him, and although we never found his body, our investigation afterwards determined him to be dead_. He had been pretty freaked out to see the supposedly dead kid standing by the riverbank. To think that their organization had been outsmarted by a _teenager_. Vodka then blinked as he saw the pass case that had fallen on the ground. The kid had dropped it, it seemed. "Kaito Kuroba" he stopped as he read the student ID. "Really?" He muttered to himself, scratching his head. "Was that really someone else or was this his alias?" _No matter._ He thought to himself. Erase all suspicious subjects. That was their rule. Vodka had as good as gotten rid of this strange character, and they would kill him if this Kaito turned up again.

Managing to hook a rope onto a pillar as he passed under a bridge, Kaito took a moment to breathe before he dragged himself onto dry land. Sopping wet, exhausted, and injured, Kaito laid down for a moment, looking up at the underside of the bridge where he had ended up. At this moment, his life looked _bad_. One of the bozos from Tantei-kun's enemy organization had obviously mistaken him for the detective, and attempted to kill him. _What had he said?_ _"Why are you alive?"_ Kaito groaned, putting an arm over his eyes. That guy had probably formerly been out for Shinichi Kudo's life, and had assumed he had been successful.

Considering the amount of grief Tantei-kun put up to stay hidden from this organization, and the craziness Kaito himself had encountered on the Bell Tree Express when he had assisted to fend these people off from Sherry, Kaito knew that he was now toast. These people would figure out they had accidentally tried to kill Kaito Kuroba instead of Shinichi Kudo, and would take Kaito out for good if he came out into the open again.

"Kaito?"

Kaito flinched as he heard the familiar high-pitched voice address him incredulously. _Why was the pipsqueak here again? Am I hallucinating?_

"Hey Tantei-kun. Long time no see." He addressed the boy weakly, not bothering to look over or get up.

"I thought I saw something shoot out of the water just as it was about to go under the bridge, and once I noticed it was a rope and saw a person climb out of the river, I came over to see if I could help." Conan had his phone out, presumably about to call the ambulance. "Are you o-" he paused as he noticed something, "Oh my god are you _bleeding?_ "

"Don't call the police, or the ambulance!" Kaito coughed, his voice tickling from the amount of volume he had attempted. "Please, I've-" he looked around briefly before he beckoned for the incredulous looking detective to come closer "I've been 'killed' by an alcoholic beverage, if you know what I mean." Satisfied with the look of horror and shock that had ghosted over his friend's face, Kaito continued. "Besides, this wound is only a scratch. Is this place Beika? Close to somewhere I can hide?"

Conan, forcing himself to recover quickly from his moment of shock, nodded in response. "Yes." He held up his phone again, but this time, to call a different number. "Hey Hakase…" as Conan called up Agasa for help, Kaito shuffled through his own pockets to take out his sopping wet cell phone. Good thing nowadays, some carriers came out with waterproof ones.

Kaito had a couple calls to make of his own after all. "Hey Jii…"

000

Conan put his face in his hands as he sat in Agasa's living room with the professor, himself, and Ai. They had treated Kaito and left him to sleep in a different room to recuperate.

In the meantime, they had a new victim of the damned organization to hide. "So." Conan started, before going silent. What could he say? This was a terrible predicament, and he knew this first hand.

"He can't go back to his former life." Ai cut in, not having the patience for wallowing about how terrible a situation this was. She knew this painfully well herself after all, having been part of both sides of the equation. "And he has two options."

"What are those? Go overseas and cut off all ties to his friends and family in Japan? Or pretend to die and live under a different name?"

"The first one sounds like a plan." Ai responded, "The second one won't work if he stays in this country. They will still find him. The real second option is to actually die, but we know that is a dumb plan."

"That is _not_ an option." Conan snapped, looking annoyed. "And it's not funny Haibara. This is no time to be joking."

"I'm not joking." Ai responded coolly, crossing both her arms and legs in response. "I just figured presenting the reality of his options to you would snap you out of your brooding so you would actually understand the seriousness of the situation."

"Ugh, Haibara I _know_." Conan sighed, putting his fake glasses on the coffee table and pulling at his hair. "But he's _not_ going to take that option."

"Well from what I hear, he _is_ a lot like you, Shinichi-kun." Agasa added on, looking at the boy next to him. "And if that's true, then he probably really won't be going anywhere."

Conan glared at the professor for that remark. "We are _not_ alike." He muttered, "But you're right, he'll probably escape and try to do things on his own if we only present him with that option."

Ai chortled at her friend's reaction at being compared to the show off thief. "I agree. In that case, maybe he'll even-" she stopped before a thoughtful look crossed her face. "I have an idea." She grinned a rare, mischievous grin that got both of the men sitting across from her backing away.

After they heard her proposal, both Conan and Agasa looked at each other, then at Ai, then at the door that held their currently resting guest.

Conan turned his face over to Ai again, and opened his mouth. "I don't think-" he stopped, and then put his hands in his face again. She was right. She was _right_. If she had the tools, and if this were presented to Kaito, he would probably end up accepting it. He sighed. "Can he at least live here?"

"It would depend on 'Ran-neechan', wouldn't it?" Ai remarked, smirking at the boy's predicament. Neither of them would probably want this, but really, it depended on what the girl thought best for Conan. Conan couldn't say no to her after all.

"What would depend on the Mouri girl?"

Agasa and Conan jolted as they heard a tired voice come up from behind them, as Ai merely looked up. "Ah, speak of the devil. Please, sit down." She said, gesturing for Kaito to sit down in the empty spot next to her. "We were just discussing your… future plans."

"Right." Kaito said stiffly, before sitting down and looking defiantly at the three of them. "I'm not going-"

"-overseas and cutting all ties to friends and family. We _know_." Conan ended the sentence for him, before giving him an apologetic look and putting his hands in his face again. Despite being physically seven, he felt like a tired out middle-aged man. "Haibara…" and her, his middle-aged mean wife.

"So, other than actually killing yourself, I have another option for you." Ai piped up, looking Kaito in the eye. "I'm a scientist."

"I… didn't know that. But okay." Kaito responded slowly, getting a bad feeling about this but deciding to hear her out.

"And I made the drug that caused us" she gestured to herself and Conan "to become small." She continued as she saw Kaito's eyes widen as the boy started to piece together what she was getting at. "Although our conditions were by chance and I have no permanent fix for it yet, I have been able to develop a few spinoffs during the course of my research."

"Don't tell me…" Kaito groaned, slumping back into his chair. His eyes met with the mini detective, whose eyes were pleading to be forgiven.

"I have a drug that can deliberately turn you young, unlike by off chance like the killing drug did for us, and in turn, I have a drug that can return you to normal from that deliberate rejuvenation." Ai said, dropping the bomb that Kaito knew was coming. "You understand this second option now right?"

"I become pipsqueak numero dos and live as his brother?" Kaito groaned, slapping his face with his hand. "I don't have to live with the Mouris do I?"

"Well… it depends on Ran…" Conan muttered, looking around nervously. "If she finds out I have a brother... she already worries about me as it is."

"Will we be twins?"

"Fraternal twins. And you have to take my birthday because she already knows mine." Conan said, glad that Kaito was taking this second, and crazy option, surprisingly well. He guessed he should have known, considering the thief had not exactly lead a regular life before. "What do you want your name to be?"

Ch. 2 preview –

" _Conan-kun…who's that?"_

 _Both the addressed Conan, and newly shrunken 'brother' stopped in their tracks as they heard a familiar feminine voice coming from the front door of Agasa's house._

 _Kaito shrunk back, scared of being attacked by the Mouri girl. He had been in the process of chasing mini Kudo around with an oversized lab coat after all._

" _He's my twin brother." Conan replied without missing a beat, before he completely ruined it by laughing that stupid nervous laugh. "He was living in the States like I used to, but he came to Japan because he wanted to uh… be with me?"_

' _Shinichi you moron!' Kaito thought, as he heard the detective say that fateful line. 'If you say that-' His thoughts were interrupted as he heard the Mouri girl spill the fateful offer that he was dreading; an offer that wouldn't take no for an answer._

" _You should come live with us then!" Ran piped up, clapping her hands together. "What's your name, by the way?"_


	2. The positive of looking like Conan

Hey, thank you very much to the reviewers that suggested names for Kaito! Although it was fun to imagine all of them, unfortunately I can only use one.

Ch 2. The positive externality of looking like Conan Edogawa

"Conan-kun…who's that?"

Both the addressed Conan, and newly shrunken 'brother' stopped in their tracks as they heard a familiar feminine voice coming from the front door of Agasa's house.

Kaito shrunk back, scared of being attacked by the Mouri girl. He had been in the process of chasing mini Kudo around with an oversized lab coat after all.

"He's my twin brother." Conan replied without missing a beat, before he completely ruined it by laughing that stupid nervous laugh. "He was living in the States like I used to, but he came to Japan because he wanted to uh… be with me?"

'Shinichi you moron!' Kaito thought, as he heard the detective say that fateful line. 'If you say that-' His thoughts were interrupted as he heard the Mouri girl spill the fateful offer that he was dreading; an offer that wouldn't take no for an answer.

"You should come live with us then!" Ran piped up, clapping her hands together. "What's your name, by the way?"

"Uh…" Kaito paused, covering the bottom half of his face with the lab coat, and scrunching his eyebrows together to show doubt. _Right… my name._

 **2 hours prior…**

"What do you want your name to be?"

"Um… I don't know." Kaito replied, sinking back into his seat. "Well, your name is Conan, so I guess something just as funky should make sense."

" _Hey_ it's not _that_ weird of a name, is it?" Conan retorted, frowning at the criticism.

"Yes. It is." Ai interrupted, and then smirked as she looked over at Kaito. "Well, if Kudo-kun is the Heisei Sherlock Holmes and named Conan, perhaps as the Heisei Arsene Lupin, your name should be Maurice."

"Maurice?" Kaito replied, wrinkling his nose at the name. "Sounds too much like Mouri."

"Then how about Lupin?" Agasa suggested, and blinked as both Ai and Conan burst out laughing at the suggestion.

Kaito sighed, and slumped back even farther in his seat. "That's not as weird, but that's also the name of Suzuki's _dog_." He then shot a sidelong glance over at Conan. "And besides, think about it. Would you seriously name yourself Sherlock?"

Conan gave the teen a wistful look. "I would, if I had another chance."

Both Ai and Kaito gave him condescending looks while Agasa nodded in agreement.

"Well then, how about Arthur?" Conan suggested, not giving up. "That would make sense, considering my name comes from Sir Arthur Conan Doyle."

"Yea, and Ranpo Edogawa." Kaito responded, frowning again. "I don't like Arthur. It's hard to pronounce."

"Ranpo Edogawa…" Agasa muttered, "That comes from Edgar Allan Poe, right?" He smiled, appreciating the pun. "Edgar?"

"Edgar Edogawa?" Kaito tried sounding the name out, and then slapped his face, as the other three occupants of the room burst out laughing. (*in Japanese, it would sound ridiculous, like, "Edogawa Edoga-") "Like Conan, I'll just take the middle name."

 **Back to the present…**

"I'm Allan." Kaito responded timidly, as he assumed any little kid meeting someone new for the first time would. He then put down the lab coat he was holding so his face would be in full view. "Allan Edogawa." He smiled up at Ran, who was looking at his face in awe. "Nice to meet you!"

"Wow." Ran breathed, looking at the newly introduced twin. She then looked over at Conan, and then at Allan again. "Are you two identical twins?"

"No, we are fraternal twins." Allan responded, shaking his head with the same fake childishness Conan displayed time and time. He thought he saw from the corner of his eye Ai smirking at his imitation of Conan's terrible acting.

Ran blinked, before she smiled again. "And like Conan-kun, you know a lot of big words!" She then put her finger up to her chin. "I think it would be good if you came and lived with Conan-kun again. I know you must have just got here but… would you like to?"

Kaito held in a shudder as he smiled the fake child Conan smile and responded enthusiastically. "Yes!"

"Ran-neechan, that's so cool!" Conan added on, holding his hands up in mock joy, before putting them down again as he made a troubled face. "But Allan just got here, and we need to tell our parents about this, so can we both stay at the Professor's for tonight and go over tomorrow?"

"Sure thing Conan-kun!" Ran exclaimed, looking excited. "I need to talk to dad and get the place ready for your brother too, so that would be good!"

After Ran left, Conan leaned against the door in a huff, and then glared over at Ai and his new brother. "What was that for?" he muttered, referencing the obvious mockery Allan had pulled regarding Conan's fake childishness. "I'm no actor, but I _know_ you could have done a better job than that."

Allan grinned, and put his hands behind his head, as Ai shot back with a smirk of her own. "Why, Kudo-kun. I thought that was _excellent_ acting."

"If we are to be twins, it would be a lot more believable if we had similar quirks, right?" Allan added on, before making his expression into a worried one. "But speaking of being brothers, I really can't avoid living with you and the Mouris now, can I?"

"Not anymore." Agasa said, looking down at the boy. "If Ran-kun says go, then neither Shinichi-kun nor her father can refuse her."

"Hey! That's not true." Conan muttered, looking down at the ground while crossing his arms in defiance. "But yeah, seems you are going to be living with me."

"Wonder who's fault is that?" Ai said, as she glanced over at Conan, who glared back at her. "Anyway, this is going to get messy, isn't it?"

"What do you mean, Ai-kun?" Agasa asked, looking confused. "Shinichi-kun's parents understood quickly, and so did Kaito-kun's mother, since fortunately they were old acquaintances. Also" the professor glanced over at Allan, "as luck would have it, KID had announced a hiatus for a while _before_ Kaito-kun's attack, so the Black org. would have no reason to figure out his identity, nor would the public wonder about any sudden disappearance of the phantom thief."

"Yes, things on that side of things seem impossibly fortunate." Ai replied, "However, Kudo-kun has a lot of 'special' acquaintances that would be pretty curious about his new twin."

Allan froze as he heard her statement, and then looked over at Conan. Granted, he had been a little nervous about the Osaka detective, but he had figured he could dodge him for a bit since the guy lived so far away. However, from the way the little scientist was speaking, it seemed mini Kudo had a few more crazy acquaintances. "Tantei-kun…" he narrowed his eyes as he saw the addressed boy now looking a bit more nervous than Allan would have liked, avoiding his eyes. "Fill me in on these 'special' acquaintances."

000

"Okay." Allan kneaded his forehead for what he felt was the billionth time since the other three had started filling him in on the kind of acquaintances he would have to become exposed to just by virtue of becoming 'Conan's brother. "Okay Tantei-kun, or Conan, or Shinichi… whatever you go by"

"I don't ever go by 'Tantei-kun', that's what _you_ call me." Conan interrupted with mild annoyance. "And you can call me Shinichi when we're not around anyone that doesn't know who I am."

"Okay Tantei-kun." Kaito replied, noting with satisfaction the look of annoyance flash across Shinichi's face again. "So to summarize, I'm going to have to explain myself to the Osaka detective, some weirdo FBI agent in disguise that used to be in the Black org. that currently lives in your house, and some creepy woman in the Black org. that may or may not be of help in bringing down the organization."

"No, you don't need to explain yourself to all of them." Shinichi exclaimed, waving his hands around hastily. "They are just the people who know about me that you might encounter, other than my parents, Haibara, and Professor Agasa, that know my real identity." He then added on. "The only one out of them that you really might have to explain yourself to would be Hattori."

Kaito frowned. "Right… that Osaka detective." He figured it could have been worse. Hakuba could have known about Shinichi too, which would have made things a lot more embarrassing. Kaito paused at that thought in horror. _Oh no… Hakuba._ If anyone would actually find his sudden disappearance suspicious and would seriously look into it, it would be him. Kaito knew he would be kidding himself if Hakuba would accept the lame excuse he and his mother had made up to tell the school about him leaving the country for a while. His classmates and Aoko never found anything strange about his unpredictability, but Hakuba… Kaito gulped. He decided he'd deal with him if he ever showed up. Hopefully, the bastard would decide to leave for London to chase after actual dangerous criminals, and left him alone.

"He's not that bad." Shinichi prodded, misinterpreting Kaito's nervous face to be due to thinking about how badly his encounter with Heiji could be. "He could be useful at times."

"Right." Kaito quipped, before changing the topic. "And uh, did you say you were also pretty well acquainted with the _FBI_ and undercover _CIA_ agents?"

Shinichi nodded.

"And they are among the people that _don't_ know who you really are?" Kaito continued, looking at the detective incredulously. "Dear gods, you are amazing."

"You really think so?" Shinichi asked, pretending to look flattered, before frowning worriedly. "But to be honest, I think these people think I'm a little shady, so it's kind of good that you showed up since you would kind of be validating my identity as Conan."

"Right." Kaito agreed, sighing. "And it's fortunate for me, in a way, that you already exist and we look alike so it's easy for me to take on this identity as your brother."

"Yeah."

Kaito blinked as he remembered something. Speaking of looking like the detective… "Say, Shinichi" the addressed detective looked back at him, expression a little pleased at finally being called by his real name.

"What?"

"Were you, by any chance, involved in directing police officers as they chased around a thief trying to steal a clock tower a while back?"

"Yeah." Shinichi replied, looking surprised at the unexpected topic. "But wait, I don't think the media knew I was involved in that… How'd you know?"

Kaito grinned as he looked the detective straight in the eyes. "That was me. The thief." He laughed as he saw the surprised look on his 'brother's face. "I didn't know you were involved until recently either, but _wow_ you really gave me a scare then."

"So, in a way we _were_ acquainted before I became Conan?" Shinichi asked, looking thoughtful. "So I guess that clears Shinichi Kudo from being a KID suspect then."

Kaito snorted, "And now we are acquainted as brothers, with me as Allan." He continued, looking up thoughtfully. "How much more interesting it would have been if you had become older and become my brother instead."

"What? That's impossible." Shinichi replied, giving Kaito a horrified look. "And not to mention, that would be a _way_ worse situation than what we are in now."

"Never say never, Shinichi." Kaito replied, grinning. "Our current situation is pretty crazy in itself as well."

Ai sighed as she listened to the exchange between the supposed fake brothers. It was hard to imagine they weren't real ones. She had to admit, this was a good disguise. "I wonder…" she started, catching the attention of the two boys. "if the legendary magician will be converted to become a detective?" She continued as she saw the confused look coming her way from Kaito. "What? Don't think you can avoid becoming the newest member of the Detective Boys."

"Ta-da!" Agasa announced, just as Ai said those fateful words, producing a DB badge. "Here you go, Kaito-kun. You can have this spare one."

Kaito looked at the badge dumbfounded, as Shinichi shook his head. "No."

"Yes." Ai said, smirking. "I'm sure Yoshida-san would insist on you joining as well, and as a gentleman, you wouldn't say no to a lady, would you?"

"Uh…" Kaito faltered, before deciding not to fight it. It was part of his disguise after all; joining this kiddie club wouldn't erase his identity as a thief. "As are you" He replied, sighing in mock resignation. "and as you say, I cannot resist a lady's wishes without good reason."

Shinichi frowned in disgust at the other boy's flirtatious antics. "On the other hand, I am so glad you can't pretend to be the real me on whim anymore."

Kaito blinked, before laughing. "Yes I can." He pointed a finger at Shinichi. "Conan is still the real you."

"You can, but you wouldn't." Shinichi grumbled, not taking the provocation. "There would be no reason to."

"That's true, but I _can_." Kaito shot back, before he put his new badge on his shirt, and smirked the all-knowing Conan grin. "Who am I? I am Conan Edogawa, _detective._ "

Shinichi put his face in his hands at the act as he heard peals of laughter coming from the other occupants of the room. _Wait… Kaito is the one who has new troubles to face, right? Why do I feel like I've gained more troubles than him?_

"Oh, Shinichi-kun." Agasa gasped, wiping his eyes as he tried to hold down his laughter. "It's almost like you've gained the brother that you've never had."

Shinichi was about to give a sarcastic retort, when the doorbell rang. He frowned as he looked over at the door. "Who's here at _this_ hour? Were you expecting a package or something?"

"No." Agasa said, as he walked over to the door and looked into the peephole. "Oh, it's Subaru-kun."

"Oh." Shinichi replied, before looking over at Kaito.

"Uh…" Kaito said, looking nervous. "He knows about you…but I don't have to explain myself?"

"Maybe it'd be better to hide for now." Ai offered, gesturing towards Kaito to follow her. "Here, let's go to a different room. I don't really like him anyway."

After making sure Kaito and Ai were out of sight from the front door, Agasa turned back to the door to answer it.

"Hi Subaru-kun, what brings you over tonight?" Agasa said as he opened the door, smiling nervously. Conan ran up towards the professor as well, quickly joining him, lest he said anything too revealing.

However, their precautions to hide 'Allan' for the time being were revealed to be all for naught as Subaru stated his reason for visiting. "Well, I met Ran-san in the street about 30 minutes ago, and she told me Conan-kun's twin was going to start staying with the Mouris come tomorrow so I thought I'd bring a little welcome gift."

Conan and the professor looked at each other before sighing in defeat. There was really no reason to voluntarily tell Subaru about Allan, but there was no reason to hide him from him now that he had come asking. "Come on in, Subaru-kun." Agasa said, stepping out of the doorway to let his neighbor in. "Why don't we talk about this inside."

Ch. 3 – preview

" _So." Subaru said, smiling in a way that was quite obviously not genuine as he looked over at Conan and the new 'Allan', that was sitting across from him. "Nice to meet you. I'm Subaru Okiya, Professor Agasa's current neighbor, courtesy of your brother." He gave Conan a cursory glance before fixing his gaze on Allan again. "And who are you?"_

" _I'm Allan Edogawa, Conan's twin." Allan replied, frowning as he looked closely at the supposed FBI agent's face. Although Conan had told him who this guy was supposed to be, he hadn't told him that this person also had a fake face. Allan supposed he should have expected this, but it still made him uncomfortable. "And who are you?"_

" _I just told you." Subaru replied calmly, chuckling. "Just like you told me who you are."_

" _Ah, but it's not fair, nii-san." Allan countered, ignoring the look Conan was giving him, clearly telling his new brother to shut the hell up. "I'm showing you my real face." He smirked at the looks of surprise that came over from the other occupants of the room. "I can tell a fake face from a real one mister, and yours is fake."_


End file.
